Semua Bab TO DENY A LUNA: Bab 61 - Bab 70

DAMON'S POV“I told you to crush the damn thing. Haul it to the scrapyard and make sure there’s nothing left to piece together,” I instructed coldly into the phone. As I ended the call, my eyes met hers. The way her gaze snapped upward, wide and brimming with hurt, sent a jolt through me, but I refused to flinch.Her lips parted, but no words came. Instead, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, and her throat moved as she swallowed hard, trying not to let them fall. I tilted my head, almost amused, almost… regretful. But I had to maintain control.I slipped the phone back into my pocket. “You could’ve stopped all of this,” I said evenly, my voice devoid of warmth. “It didn’t have to reach this point.”Velara’s expression twisted into something sharp and pained. “You’re right,” she snapped, her voice trembling with emotion. “None of this would’ve happened if I’d never crossed paths with you.”Then, without waiting for a response, she spun

VELARA'S POVThe next morning dawned with a kind of eerie silence lingering in the air. Word had spread that another one of the forsaken had been sighted just the night before. Fear had begun to worm its way through the guests at the hotel, prompting a few of them to gather their things and leave while they still could. They didn’t want to take the risk. The hotel was too close to the city’s boundary, too tempting a target for anyone—or anything—looking for a way in.But regardless of the fear hanging over us, today was still Saturday, and it was a day that held a purpose: the wedding scheduled for the afternoon. Most of my energy had been directed toward getting everything ready for that. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to arrange for a delivery truck to bring in the new refrigeration units in time. The wait had stretched out over a week, leaving me to make do. With no other choice, six of us had rolled up our sleeves and hauled down two old fridges from the bac

VELARA'S POVThe wedding wraps up flawlessly, like the final note of a perfect symphony echoing in the hush of twilight. Golden light from the chandeliers above casts a soft, honeyed glow over the ballroom, where flower petals dust the polished marble floor like remnants of a dream. The scent of white roses and vanilla still lingers in the air, mingling with the faintest trace of champagne and candle wax. I stand at the edge of the room for a moment, just observing, the clinking of glasses has quieted, the laughter is beginning to fade, and now only a low murmur remains as the last of the guests begin to drift toward the exit in twos and threes.Every detail had unfolded as it should. The bride, radiant in a delicate lace gown, had glided down the aisle like something out of a fairytale. Her smile never wavered, not once. The groom couldn’t stop looking at her, his eyes filled with awe as if he was seeing her for the first time. The vows were simple, heartfelt, and

VELARA'S POVIt wouldn’t be too much to ask for the school to at least hire properly trained teachers. Some of the ones they currently had didn’t seem qualified enough to be educating children. Honestly, Kael was brighter than a few of them, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. This morning, as we walked toward the school building, I noticed the teachers waiting outside with the children, all dressed in loud colors and sporting wild hairstyles, trying to match the kids’ festive mood. It was an attempt to engage with them, I knew, but it didn’t change the fact that the school was lacking in many other areas.Back when we first enrolled our kids, Kylie, Elysia, and I had been shown around the school. It was a bleak tour. The library was almost nonexistent, barely a handful of books on dusty shelves, and they only had one ancient desktop computer for all the students to share. That visit had left us all disturbed, and we promised each other we’d do something about it. So

DAMON'S POVAfter keeping it to myself for too long, I finally confided in Dante about Velara. He wasted no time responding. He’s already assigned patrols to monitor the back perimeter of her hotel, making sure someone keeps an eye on that area. Someone had broken the fence recently, and while I’ve arranged for repairs, there’s no telling when it’ll be done. Hopefully, someone can make it out today to oversee the fix. If not, I’ll just go out there myself.Dante and I had just finished combing through the dusty archives at the library, hoping to dig up something useful. We didn’t find much—nothing really. There were no records of a Velara Virelle before the last five years. In fact, there wasn’t a single trace of anyone named Velara at all. The only thing we managed to uncover was a few hotel documents and a brief hospital entry from five years ago. Strangely enough, there was no mention of what she was admitted for, nor what department she had been placed in.